A new service information portal for truck fleets

Diesel Progress North American Edition, August, 2004 by Jim Winsor

Suppliers and manufacturers of components, parts or systems to truck or trailer manufacturers, have a new kid in town they need to meet and learn about. It's FleetPortal. No, it has nothing to do with ships but rather a revolutionary new way the trucking industry, especially fleets with their own in-house maintenance departments, wants to receive their service literature, parts catalogs, wiring diagrams and the like and do it online on a truck-by-truck basis.

Keeping up with service technology for fleets and truck and trailer dealers has become an out-of-control blitz of manuals, brochures, faxes, CDs, etc. It's become next to impossible for service shops to keep technical data readily available to mechanics and technicians and have it up-to-date with the latest service bulletins. Adding to the problem are the fleets with multiple locations which sometimes cover a dozen states or more. Getting needed material into the right hands in a timely and cost-effective manner has become a serious and costly issue.

The trucking industry decided to see what it would take to solve this problem electronically using the internet with customized programs tailored for each make and model of truck, engine, transmission, axles, etc., a given fleet may have. Could a program be developed which fleets could subscribe to and to which vendor/suppliers to the OEs or on their own, would furnish all the necessary data whether it be a truck OE, engine manufacturer or the end-user fleet? Wouldn't electronic distribution be a lot cheaper--and certainly faster--than printing and shipping all that paper?

The Technology and Maintenance Council (TMC) of the American Trucking Associations formed a task force to study the issue in 2002. By March 2003, it had done enough homework to take a proposal to the TMC board of directors to authorize the development of FleetPortal. Some 15 months later, in June 2004, TMC announced it was ready to sign up subscribers for the new service with monthly fees initially set at $250 to $5000 depending oil the number of vehicles in the fleet. As of July 10, FleetPortal had four good-sized start-up subscribers: Southeastern Freightlines, a 10,000-vehicle LTL common carrier headquartered in Columbia, S.C.; Morgan Southern Inc., a large inter-modal carrier; First Lease Truck Rental and Leading; and Verizon, the giant communications fleet. All of these own, operate or lease large numbers of multiple-make and multiple-size vehicles of multiple ages. Their managers saw early in the game how going electronic for all their vehicle informational needs could solve most of the problems outlined above. The bonus would be greatly improved shop productivity because mechanics could instantly access their informational or parts needs by shop computer or laptop right at their work bay.

Here's how FleetPortal works: Subscribing fleets furnish their equipment data by VIN thru TMC to the FleetPortal contractor which is Continental DataGraphics (CDG), a subsidiary of the Boeing Co. CDG developed the original and similar electronic technology for the aMine industry. The make, modal and VIN of each vehicle is sent to the appropriate vehicle manufacturer which, in turn, generates in electronic format the information for each vehicle taken from that vehicle's build code--everything that went into/onto the vehicle when built.

Depending on each situation, Tier 1 and Tier 2 may get into the act, say, for trasmission/axle/alternator/hydraulic pump data if the OE doesn't already have it in an electronic format. The subscribing fleet is issued its own proprietary pass code and program to access this information via the internet. Volvo and Mack Trucks reportedly are the first to be up and running with FleetPortal. Others are taking a serious look at and/or working on it.

Southeastern Freightlines (SEFL) is the pioneering fleet which put FleetPortal together. David Foster, SEFL's VP of field maintenance, put two of his 20 shops into the early test program. Results were very promising and senior management decided to go forward. "We believe we will see notable improvements in our fleet maintenance process by using TMC FleetPortal at all our maintenance facilities," said Foster. "It is our intent to include in our Equipment Supplier Agreements the requirement that they provide parts and service information to TMC for our use through TMC FleetPortal."

FleetPortal is just what Foster said, a parts and information service. It is not for parts purchasing or pricing. The program does have the capability of interfacing with VMRS (Vehicle Maintenance Reporting Standards).

To learn more about FleetPortal, go to www.TMCFleetPortal.com; or, fleetportal@cdgnow.com.

STREET SMARTS IS A MONTHLY COLUMN DEVOTED TO THE ON-HIGHWAY ENGINE MARKET.

JIM WINSOR IS EXECUTIVE EDITOR OF HEAVY DUTY TRUCKING AND DIRECTOR OF MARKETING FOLK NEWPORT COMMUNICATIONS.